Danielson/Garcia II & III

 

AEW DYNAMITE 07/27/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia
This was Bryan's comeback match after the reported concussion he suffered at Anarchy In The Arena, and the match 100% revolves around that said injury. Garcia dominates most of it targeting Bryan's head, aaand that's what killed the match for me. Garcia is EXTREMELY uninteresting, uncharismatic & offers no swagger or charm whatsoever with his work on top. His output was straight up weak looking & boring. Bryan's selling is of course really great & his comeback moments, especially that first big one with the explosive forearm shot after Garcia's first control period, are really awesome, but it's not enough for me to call this good. **

AEW DYNAMITE 08/17/22

Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia
After not enjoying their first two singles meetings, I am very pleased that I loved this one! The GOAT was fully on his murder-shit-up-mode with plenty of punishing, beautifully violent looking offense as well as superb selling (much like in their previous match). Garcia also showed up way bigger than he did in those said previous matches of theirs, as he also nicely stood-up - I say 'stood up', because I don't wanna lie & say 'matched' - to Dragon's pure intensity & fire. This was an absolute banger. On some jedi master taking on a new padawan type shit. All hail the greatest professional wrestler to ever live, The American Dragon Bryan Danielson. ***3/4

SUMMERSLAM 2022 stuff: Becky/Bianca, Lesnar/Reigns

 

SUMMERSLAM 2022

Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair
Their WrestleMania match is one of the best matches of the year, so this certainly had a world of potential. I think the Mania match was pretty much a perfect big-title-match-thing, and this one tried to replicate that magic, but I didn't feel it at all. Seemed like it never kicked into another gear & there was no real catch or hook to get you (or at least me) truly into it. A spot or two that were pretty cool, but even that feels overly nice to say tbh. *1/2

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
God DAAAAAMN. This was some mighty epic shit right here. It took them over 7 long years, but Reigns & Lesnar finally had a yet another banger. I usually don't particularly like LMS-matches, but the gimmick fit them like a glove, as it allowed their usual bomb-throwing look & feel more gritty n' violent than usual - of course helped by the fact that both guys can be absolutely incredible when it comes to selling. Such a super fun, big atmosphere heavyweight arsenal showdown all the way through, with the whole ending section after the, and I mean THE spot, being simply incredible big time WWE drama fitting the 2 characters clashing perfectly. Shout out to big Michael Cole for delivering a helluva performance as well. ****1/2